Newspaper
by nikki-rookk
Summary: An early morning for Castle and Beckett in the precinct is interrupted by a funny blast from the past, in the form of a newspaper article. A quick little one shot that may make you feel a little warm and fuzzy inside.


Castle was barely able to grab the newspaper off the kitchen counter before racing after Kate, who had already downed two cups of coffee before he could even get out of the shower. He managed to get the door to his loft shut behind him before seeing Kate disappear behind the door to the stairs, and he decided to follow her down with fear that she might leave him behind with all the energy she had. He caught up with her as the doorman was hailing her a taxi, a luxury she had never had to use, but this time her squad car had been left behind at the precinct when they had wandered off from the comfort food truck late last night. He tried to hide his yawn behind his fist and the newspaper but even with the early sun barely peaking between the buildings, she still managed to roll her eyes and laugh at him as they piled into the backseat of the cab.

The precinct had never really been that far from Castle's loft, but it felt twice as long sitting in the back of the cab without a bear claw and a tall cup of coffee, and Kate wasn't letting him fall asleep on her shoulder. Her knees were bouncing from all of the caffeine she had absorbed and Castle would have been the same way if he hadn't felt the need to sleep in longer and take a shower after her. They had been up late, really late, and it wasn't just his mind that was tired. He was pretty sure he had a bruise somewhere on his shoulder that was incredibly similar to the shape of a bite mark, but he didn't take the time to figure it out in the mirror this morning. The taxi had barely stopped when Kate flung the door open, leaving Castle to fish out his wallet, and she was already inside the elevator holding the door for him when he walked through the front door.

When they reached the sixth floor, it was so empty Castle had to remind himself what time it was, but didn't care as he followed her to her desk. When he sat down and looked at the empty white board, he suddenly started to wonder why it was that he was there so early. Kate would have paperwork, and from the large stack already sitting on her desk, just the first part would take her well past lunch. But Castle never came in on days where Kate would just be doing paperwork, but everything that had happened last night and this morning were so blurry he decided that since he was already here, he could do for a nice cup of coffee from the break room. Throwing the newspaper in the chair behind him, he walked across the empty bull pen, relishing at how loud his footsteps actually sounded on the floor and the way the light barely reached the top of the desks.

He spent an extra long time on a nice floral design on the top of the coffee he made for Kate, decaf, but she didn't need to know that. He'd resorted to a quick smiley face in his before carrying them out and handing hers to her. She was already nose deep in the files on her desk and barely looked up at him before pausing to look at his floral design with a smile before taking a sip. He knew she could tell it was decaf, but the knowing smile on her face just made him laugh a little to himself. He sat back down in his chair, eyeing her stack of papers and wondering how long it would take her before she asked if he wanted to help. For probably the first time since ever placing foot in this precinct, he found himself not minding the idea of helping her fill out a little paperwork, especially if it meant getting them home early so they could curl up in their warm bed and sleep. All he wanted to do right now was sleep, but he let some other ideas slip into his mind as well.

He sipped on his coffee, listened to the silence, and just watched Kate do her work. He always thought she was her most adorable when her face was scrunched up in concentration while she was reading a bunch of papers. The other parts of her shined when she did all of the other things pertaining to her job, but this was where her adorableness truly shined. The way her brow furrowed, her eyes squinted. The way she would bite her bottom lip, sometimes twirl her hair absentmindedly, and the little puffs of air she would let out when something didn't quite add up. This was probably the reason he followed her in today, besides just not wanting to leave her side and let her go in alone at such an early time when he knew the room would be this empty and quiet. He knew it didn't bother her, this was when she got most of her work done, but he could tell she liked him here, even if it was too early for him to start working on his list of one thousand ways to distract someone from doing paperwork. He'd already gotten to a hundred and six.

After she eyed him for staring at her too long, he pulled the newspaper out from under him and scanned the front page. Nothing new or interesting caught his eye. He was about to turn the page when a name in bold caught his eye at the bottom. He brought the paper closer to his face but he couldn't figure out where he knew the name from. Dekker. Dekker. He kept repeating the name in his head, he knew the name but could not figure out where it was from. He flipped to the page that the article continued on to and the large picture reminded him of whom he was thinking of. And then he couldn't believe what he was reading.

_Brad Dekker and Amanda Livingstone have officially announced their engagement and are planning a summer wedding. Listed as number seven on this years New York's Most Eligible Bachelorettes, Ms. Livingstone is no longer on the market as her long time boyfriend Brad Dekker of the FDNY finally popped the question. They have each kept their relationship very private, so much so that every year they have been together, Amanda has been listed as a most eligible bachelorette. When asked how they first met, they both laugh at the story. 'We actually met when we were on dates with other people.' Says Brad. 'The two people we were dating were actually working together, and ran into each other at the restaurant we went to for the evening. When something came up, they both ended up leaving, which left us to talk.' Says Amanda, who just laughs at the story of having been ditched on this date. 'If it hadn't of happened, we would have never met. Plus, I'm pretty sure that those two people are together now as well.' When asked about who they were, Brad and Amanda decided to keep it private, but wished them all the best of luck…_

Castle burst out laughing so loudly that it made Beckett jump and knock the stack of papers she was holding in her hands to the ground. She looked at him as if he were going mad, but he kept on laughing and shoved the newspaper to her, leaving her no choice but to take it from his hands. She stared at it, and he leaned over and pointed at the photo in the middle of the page. He stood up and worked on picking up the papers from the floor as she read. When he looked back at her face he could tell she was trying to hold back the laughter. When she finished she just looked at him and smiled, and they both started laughing as if this was the funniest thing they had heard. Castle couldn't figure out why exactly it was so funny, but the fact that this one small event that had happened almost four years ago had led these two people to getting married. He didn't know what he was feeling so he just kept laughing. They were soon interrupted by Ryan and Esposito making their way from the elevator, not looking very pleased to hear them making so much noise this early in the morning. Kate just kept laughing and smiled at them as she handed the newspaper over to them. Castle doubted that they would remember the event, but Kate had gone on so few dates in the past, maybe they would. Of course Ryan managed to remember, asking them if they were the couple that was mentioned in the newspaper, and all Castle and Beckett could do was nod and smile.

Something about this article made Castle so incredibly happy inside that he was back to staring at Kate but this time she didn't seem to mind as she kept looking up to meet his eyes from time to time. He knew it wouldn't be long before she finally said yes to him, though he doubted he would be able to squeeze a photo of them into the newspaper, he might be able to get a few lines in announcing it. Better he do it himself than some underrated tabloid getting a hold of it, he thought. He finally broke his gaze to look down at the newspaper on her desk that was still folded to the page with the picture of Brad and Amanda. _A number on a list,_ he thought. He remembered the conversation he had had with Alexis before his date with Amanda, and all the conversations he had had with Kate since. Looking up at her now, the morning sun finally hitting her face just enough to literally make her hair glow, a sight he knew so well now after so many early mornings and coffees in bed. He could wake up to that every morning for the rest of his life, and the ring that he carried in his pocket every day that made his fingers itch to pull it out at every moment, proved just that.


End file.
